Haunted Past
by Sailor Sun19
Summary: Rachel and the other animorphs are just getting over the David Saga. Davids family has been infested, including his cousin, Kelly. Will she discover the Animorphs secret?
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE 

"I'm bored." I announced to my mum. I had only been home for 15 minutes. The bus had dropped me off after a day of school.

"Well, I'm sure I can find you something fun to do." My mum shoved a pair of rubber gloves in my hands before I could reply. "The dishes are dirty."

I groaned, and headed toward the kitchen but I quickly snuck into the lounge room to watch TV

"Um, Kelly? The kitchen is that way." She turned me into the direction of the kitchen. I signed loudly and made my way to the sink. My mum had already filled it up with foaming bubbles and hot water. I signed again and pulled on my gloves. I looked at the pile of dirty dishes on the sink. My jaw dropped. It was at least 2 feet high! I moodily dipped the first plate in and started slowly scrubbing. I was already sweating. I opened the window infront of me. I felt a refreshing breeze on my forehead. I amused myself by looking out the window. Nothing interesting really. A few birds fighting over a worm. A cat preparing to spring on the birds. A few men in black suits. I blinked. "Huh?" I muttered. I took in the sign. There was 4 of them. All wearing black. All wearing sunglasses. All, I noticed, had a very serious expression on their face. I also noted that they were walking into my front yard. I felt a thrill of fear.

"Hey mum, some creepy guys in suits are here." No answer. I tried again.

"Stop making excuses, Kelly. You're washing those dishes no matter – oh!" My mothers words were cut short, a cry in place. I quickly looked outside. The men were gone. Was it possible they'd reached my mum? I took a knife off the sink. I had to be prepared. I hid behind the lounge room corner. "Mum...?" I called softly, trying to fight off my thoughts of what might be around the corner. Suddenly, unknown hands were around my mouth. The knife flew from my hand and hit the floor. I twisted and kicked the intruder in the shins. He stumbled. His groin connected with my foot. "Oof!" He was down. For the moment. I made it to the door, then stopped, my hand on the doorknob. My mum. I couldn't just leave her. I ran back to the lounge room. This time, two of the men approached me. I didn't stand a change. I tried to scream but they put their hand over my mouth. I felt something slimy touch my ear, then realised not only couldn't I speak, but I couldn't even _move_. Something was wrong. Something bad.

**Yes. **A voice said in my head. **And it is going to get a whole lot worse. Welcome to hell, kid.**

_What was that voice? What's happening?_ I thought desperately._ I must be going crazy. I'm hearing voices, either that or I'm dreaming._

**You're not dreaming, kid. **

There was that voice again. I tried to pinch myself awake, but found I couldn't move my arm.

**Here, let me help you with that. **The voice laughed. Suddenly, my arm was moving by itself! My own finger pinched my shoulder.

"Quit it!" I tried to say, but my mouth would no longer move.

_What's happening to me? _I silently sobbed. _Where's my mum?_

**Your mum's safe kid. **A wave of relief swept over me. **For now.**

"Bring her in" I was shocked to find my lips moving. This thing was using me. I had no control. It had taken over my whole body. Two of the men dragged a familiar figure in.

_Mum! _ Hot tears sprung to my eyes. She was gagged. There was a nasty bruise on her eye.

**Tell me where he is, kid. **The mysterious voice demanded. I was confused. ** Tell me where your cousin is and your mum here won't get hurt.**

_Are you talking about David? _I wondered aloud, feeling sick. _ You already have my mum! What else do you want! _ Silence. Then, "It's no use." My voice was speaking aloud again. "I've searched her memory. She had no idea where the boy is." My head nodded towards my terrified looking mum. "Take the gag off. We'll infest her now." My mums gag was carefully taken off. "Kelly! What's going on?" My mum cried. Her face turned to hurt as she saw the cold expression on my face. "What's wrong with you? I'm sorry I made you wash the–" She was cut short as something that looked very much like an oversized grub was shoved in her face. I watched helplessly as it was moved towards her ear. I longed to close my eyes and cut out her sobbing cries. But instead, I was forced to watch it burrowing it's way through her ear canal. I felt sick – that thing was in me, too. That thing was _controlling _me. _Who are you?_ I asked with a trembling voice, afraid to hear the answer.

**I am Talf-three-seven-four. I am a Yeerk. **I gasped as I saw flashes of strange lands, monsters. I realised this was part of Talf's memories. Could I see into his mind like he could see into mine? Talf continued. **I am part of the Yeerk Empire. We are here to take over your human race.**

"You." My voice was aimed towards the four men. "Get out of here. Now." They quickly left without a word.

_What do you want with me and my mum? _ I asked the filth inside my head.

**Your cousin David has something of great importance that...belongs...to us. He escaped with it, and we want it back. **The voice sneered. **Within the hour, everyone who is related to him will be infested. **

"What now?" My mum asked me. But of course, not really my mother anymore.

"Now," Talf replied. "we live out these peoples lives. I go to the kids school. You go to the lady's work. Their friends won't have a clue."

Tears rolled down my face. I was being controlled. The Yeerk was the puppeteer, I was the puppet. For how long would this continue?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One 

RACHELS POV

Dear Diary 

_My name is Rachel. My friends say I'm a warrior. Marco calls me Xena: Warrior Princess. I am anything but that. I'm a murderer. Well, not technically, but isn't imprisoning someone to live their entire life as a rat the same? I feel sick every time I remember David's cries. His last desperate cries of pleading and begging. Sure the creep deserved it, but that doesn't make me feel any better. He is now destined to live life as a nothilit. Just like Tobias. _

_After everything that has happened, do you know what the worst thing is? I have to go to school. I have to live out my life as a normal teenager…as if nothing happened. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this charade. I just thank God for this diary. If I didn't have it, I think by now I would have snapped. I would have blurted our secret out, and my friends I wouldn't stand a chance. They would either kill us outright, or worse – infest us. Then the whole human race would be doomed. Including –_

"Rachel!" My mums voice pierced through my thoughts. "This is the last time I tell you! Get your butt out of bed and get ready for school _now_!" I sighed and reluctantly closed my diary. The rest would have to wait until tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

One month later… 

KELLYS POV

My first day at my new school. I should be feeling terrified, and maybe a little excited. Instead, I felt nothing. Not while this yeerk scum stayed wrapped around my brain. I used to fight it. I used to scream and fight and threaten. Then I just cried. I cried in my mind, because of course no tears would fall from my eyes unless Talf willed it. I cried by night, and by day just screamed in despair. It's been a month…only a month, and I've already given up. Sure, sometimes I play out little dreams that Talf-three-seven-four would be ripped from my ear and be thrown on the ground. That I would then tower over him and watch _him _writhe and squirm, helpless to do anything. But the yeerk in my head would just sneer at that, and my hope would fade away. Sometimes I just wish my life would end. It can be heart-wrenching to see my own mum, in the same position as myself, standing right infront of me, and not be able to talk to her. I long to reach out and tell her I love her. It hurts me to know that she's suffering. You try living that for a month and see how much hope you can still muster up. Talf knows I am weak. If I try to defy him and regain control, Talf would see to that. He calls it bargaining. I call it blackmail. He promises to track down the few people I have left that aren't taken, and force them to live this nightmare that I am in. I have learnt a lot while he has been in my head. For instance, he is forever brooding over "the andalite bandits". He hates them because they are stopping him from completing his mission – to find my cousin, David, and the blue box. He will do anything to find it. Which brings us back to starting at my new school – David's old school. His job is to find any relevant information that will lead him to David.

**Are you done wallowing in self-pity? **Talf's voice sneered. **We have work to do.**

_**You** have work to do. _I corrected coldly. _I have nothing to do with this._ Talf said nothing to that, but instead moved my eyes around, looking at my new school. It was huge. We started walking down a path. _Do you even know where you're going? _I knew the answer of course, I just enjoyed frustrating him.

**Of course! **Talf snapped, but hesitated. The sound of someone walking towards us came to my ears. A tall blond girl was came around the corner with a piece of paper in her hand. She must be delivering a note. "Hi." The yeerk made my voice chirpy and carefree. "My name's Kelly. I'm new here."

The girl smiled. "I'm Rachel. Let me guess, you're lost right?"

"Yeah." Talf pulled a few strings and made my mouth grin sheepishly. "I've never been great at finding my way around."

"That's okay." Rachel said. "This school is a maze, but you'll get used to it. I'm on my way to the office, you can come with me if you'd like." Talf made my head nod gratefully. Soon Rachel had led us to a small building. A lady in about her mid 30's sat behind a chipped wooden desk, typing away with blank eyes. We walked in and stopped infront of the desk. The strange lady didn't seem to notice us. Rachel coughed. She looked up, startled. "Yes?" she asked, quickly recovering. "Oh, you must be the new student we were expecting." I nodded. The lady smiled and introduced herself as Mrs. Johnson. "There we go!" she exclaimed while tapping away at her keyboard. "Well Kelly, you can start your classes right away." Rachel twisted a face at me as if saying, _Oh yeah, lucky you, time for learning! _ Talf made my own face smile in return. "You have the same last name as a past student." Mrs. Johnson said, never stopping the tapping at her keyboard. I started to wonder if she was actually using the computer. "Are you related to a boy named David?"

"Yes." I replied, watching her carefully. "He's my cousin." Mrs. Johnson just smiled pleasantly and nodded. "Do you want something dear?" Talf followed Mrs. Johnson's gaze to Rachel. I could feel his suspicion grow. Rachel was gaping at me, extremely pale. She blinked and looked at Mrs. Johnson. "Um, yes…" she replied distractedly. "I have a message." She handed the piece of paper over. "You ought to see the nurse dear." The concerned office lady said to Rachel. "Your face is very pale." Rachel didn't answer. Instead she darted another look at me before walking quickly out. Now I could feel Talf's excitement. **We must keep an eye on her. **He was saying to himself slowly. **A very close eye…**


	4. Chapter 4

RACHELS POV

We were all hanging out at Cassie's barn. I told Jake I had something important to announce, so he ordered everyone to meet herea fter school. Everyone had arrive; Jake was sitting on a hangstack, looking at me warily, preparing himself for bad news. He is our fearless leader, and also my cousin. I don't envy his postion. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make the decisions that may save the day, or kill someone. Next to him was Cassie, who had her arm secretly slipped through his. Nobody was supposed to notice, even though we all know that they like eachother. Cassie is my best friend forever. Not that you'd expect it – the girl has _no _fashion sense. Her idea of "dressing up" is putting on a pair of jeans that only had a few spots of various animal poo smeared on them. I looked to the top rafters of the barn. Sitting there was a red-tailed hawk. But not just a hawk. Also a boy named Tobias. Not too long after we received the power to morph by Elfangor, Tobias was trapped. He is now a _nothlit_. Destined to live his life as a hawk, hunting mice and rabbits instead of lounging around watching T.V. as a normal teen would. The last two members of our group were sitting on the ground opposite eachother, a haystack in the middle as a table. On top of it were various playing cards. "No Ax!" Marco was saying in frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you the King and Queen are _not _a pair?" Marco is the annoying one in the group. He is constantly cracking lame jokes seconds before we start a life-threatening mission. But he's also the careful one. He picks up on a lot of things that we've missed and always makes sure the things we do are kept in secret. In the beginning he didn't want to fight, but now he has a good reason. Everyone believed his mum had drowned a few years ago, but it was all a setup. We found out Visser One, the most powerful yeerk in the universe, had infested Marco's mum. He doesn't talk about it much because he hates pity. "I do not understand. Stand. Stan-DUH." Ax was in his weirdly attractive human morph, a mixture of mine, Cassie's, Jake's and Marco's DNA. His real form is an Andalite. Think of a deer. Now imagine it blue. Then put a pair of stalk eyes on top of his head, and a pair of eyes and a weird nose on his face. No mouth. And the most important thing, the tail; normal enough, but with a deadly blade on the end. Kind of like a scorpions tail. Ever since we rescued him from the bottom of the ocean, he has fought with us. Ax tends to play around with sounds, as Andalites have no mouth. Food also fascinates him. We have learnt to keep him away from cinnamon buns unless we want to make a scene. "A king and queen are married are they not? Thus, this would make them a pair. Pair. Puh-air." Did I mention Andalites think too much? Marco threw down his cards. "Forget it." He snapped. "If you can't learn a simple game like 'Go Fish', then-"

"Rachel? You wanted to tell us something?" Jake quickly interrupted before be could finish. "Uh…yeah." I said nervously. Not because I was scared of talking in front of my friends, but because the very thought of David gave my stomach a churn. "There's this new girl. I helped her find her way around today, and I found out she is…was…David's cousin." Everyone looked away at David's name. I wasn't the only one who avoided that subject. To make a long story short, David found the blue box and put it for sale on the internet. We saved him from Visser Three, our greatest enemy here on Earth, but we couldn't save his family. We had two choices: kill him, or make him one of us. We chose the second choice. Big mistake, as he turned out to be a traitor. We tricked him in the end, he is now a nothlit. A rat. I'll never forget his panicked, pleading screams in my head. "So you think she's a controller?" Jake asked me, wearily rubbing his face with his hands.

"Well, yeah." I said, looking at my friends for support. "Isn't it a little weird that David's cousin suddenly turns up?"

"But why?" Cassie pointed out. "Why would Visser Three want to find him? He already knows we gave him the power to morph, so he'll assume we have the blue box."

"But he also knew David was weak. That he would join him in a hearbeat if his life was in danger. Maybe he thinks if David joins him he could get his hands on the blue box easier." Marco said. I was grateful to have someone agree with me. "And what better way to find out information than to use his cousin? Enroll at his school, listen out for any news about him, then report back to Visser Three."

Makes sense. It was the first time Tobias had spoken up since the meeting had began. Rachel, was this girl suspicious of you in any way? 

"I…I don't think so." I tried to think back to when I found out. "I guess I was a little shocked, but she didn't look suspicious."

"Yerrks can hide that." Ax pointed out. "They can put a mask over their hosts face to show any emotion they please." I nibbled my lip, worried. I felt Cassie's concerned gaze on me. "We don't know anything for sure yet. We should just tread carefully around her until we find more about her." I gave her a grateful look. Jake nodded. "Rachel, what did you say her name was?" I told him. "Well, we find out where Kelly lives, and watch her for 3 days. Find out if she's a controller." Jake looked around. "When do we start?"

How about now? Tobias suggested. I have nothing better to do. 

"Great. Rachel, you should go with Tobias, since you're the one who found her."

I nodded slowly. It made sense. But I had a really bad feeling about this.


End file.
